triathlon...

The tri I've been training for finally took place. The weather was horrible - 25 mph wind gusts, rain - generally miserable. The wind was the type that blew open the door of your car as you tried to get out - it did this as we all exited to get Starbucks before the race.

Now, I've had a bet, made back in March with my buddy who I've done the last two tri's with. He, being 7 years younger, "gave me" 7 minutes in the race and thought he could still win. Ha! Nothing like a gauntlet laid down to get me up and motivated. I have trained hard on the bike and relatively hard for the run. He swims regularly. I swam two or three times. Long story short, I won by more than 6 minutes - without the 7 he spotted me. Granted, the chain fell off of his bike, BUT - I was knocked over by another cyclist. Knocked to the ground, and boy did it hurt. I was none too happy; he was very apologetic, but I wonder how much faster I could have been had the weather been good and I not been knocked over on the bike. I actually passed him during the run portion of the race - and couldn't believe it. An even bigger surprise: at the end of the race when our total times were posted I was in the top half of the 1,100 participants AND it was my fastest finish yet - even faster than when I did my first one in '05 and was in such good shape. I was completely surprised that I bettered my '05 time - and completely thrilled.

TNG was there, cheering me on and that was so awesome. (I'd asked Steeler Fan for the past several years to come down there with me, but he never would.) TNG wore a bright colored shirt, so that I had no trouble picking him out of the crowd. He took all sorts of photos and was so supportive and encouraging, it was great. Afterwards was the best. We returned to the hotel and I had to lay on the heating pad as my back was hurting. He said he had to go out and get Starbucks, but he came back with a dozen roses and a fabulous bottle of champagne! It was definitely my favorite triathlon experience ever!